1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices designed to collect honey and cultivate the development of strong bee colonies and which permits the raising of multiple generations of bees thereby permitting the development of larger colonies of bees prior to the nectar flow season.
2. Prior Art
Centuries of beekeeping throughout the world have resulted in the development of beehives which allow beekeepers to avoid the annual destruction of colonies of bees in order to retrieve honey. The instant invention is derived out of sixty years of beekeeping in Europe and the United States by the inventor hereof. The concept of having two queens work in one hive is not new, it was described by the blind Swiss naturalist, Huber and Reverend Langstroth in the mid and late 1800's. However, cultivation of two queen hives in a standard hive structure is extremely difficult because of the necessity of stacking standard hive brood chambers some six or eight high and topping the same off with six to eight supers. This causes the twin hive to tip easily and in the event it should fall over it can cause severe injury to the bees as well as damage to the hive and associated equipment. In addition, the handling of filled honey supers stacked at the top of the hive becomes extremely difficult. The most serious disadvantage however, is the necessary continual modification of the hive structure and the resultant reduction of survival ability of the colony. When using the prior art beehives, one typically begins with a single queen colony and then divides the single colony with the introduction of a new queen and the gradual addition of more brood chambers to accommodate the expanding hive population. When the nectar flow ends and the hive is winterized it is returned to a single queen hive and a smaller bee population. The result of this two queen operation in a standard hive causes the large bee population to come in late around April and May of the year. In places with climates like California the large hive and the benefits of multiple queen hives are lost because the primary nectar flow occurs in early spring about mid-February and ends around the end of May. Accordingly, the large hive population collection capabilities is reached too late in the year to benefit fully from the peak nectar flow. In addition, the winter survival rate of the hive is severely decreased because the standard hive population does not benefit from a multiple colony warmth required for maximum survival as well as the reduction of honey consumption resulting therefrom.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a beehive which permits multiple queen operation in a stable beehive structure.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a beehive which permits multiple independent bee colonies to benefit from the warmth of the other colonies within the same hive body thereby facilitating an early broodnest to take full advantage of early nectar flow as well as improving the winter survival of both colonies.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a brood chamber having slanted sides for easy removal of brood frames for inspection and cleaning.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a brood chamber with alighting boards and flight slots which permit dusting with terramyacin to prevent foulbrood disease without disassembling the beehive.
It is a further object of this invention to minimize swarm formation due to sufficient brood frame area.
It is a further object of this invention to provide brood frames which minimize bee injury and encourage drone cell building in generally the same area of each of said frames.